Christmas Crafting (part 2)

I got this awesome frame at an estate auction I went to a long time ago.  Well, I thought it was really cool, but I only got 3 sides of the frame instead of 4 so I couldn't use it for it's created purpose.  Since it was green I thought it would look great for Christmas to display the Christmas Cards we received.  I tried a few different ideas before I decided on putting magnets on it and sticking it to a piece of metal I had left over from another project.  I sawed one of the pieces into a few more to make a tree shape.  Then I hot glued magnets to the back.  I like the finished product even without the cards, but love what they add to it!

Christmas Crafting (part 1)

I realize I'm a little behind for a Christmas post, but it's better late than never, right?  And, yes (part 1) means there's at least a part 2 and maybe even a 3... I'm just going with it.  We've been a little busy around here (more posts on that coming soon).  For now, I'm going to share our Christmas stockings and their holders I made.

I'll start with the stocking holders.  I'd seen several wreaths wrapped with yarn and really liked them, so I thought it'd be neat to try that.  I found these letters, made of cardboard, at a super discounted price at Hudson's.  It pays to have Q start your last name... Q and Z were the only letters left that weren't damaged.  Anyway, I decided to wrap them in yarn and here is the final product:

 
I wrapped Justins Q in red and mine in green (of course).  I really like the way they turned out.  All of our Christmas decorations turned out a little Old World and we both liked it.  After wrapping the letters in yarn I hot glued them to simple stocking holders I bought at Walmart.  I think the whole project cost about $11.  

On to the stockings, I ended up making them twice.  I thought I had some process pictures, but if I do, I can't find them now.  I first made them without batting between the outside layer and the lining.  (I had made some before with it and I thought they were too think.)  However, these were too flimsy and did not look good hung without the batting and quilting.  So, I took them apart and added it in then quilted them and sewed them back together at the top with the white cuff in between the outside layer and lining.  I didn't use a pattern, I just sketched the shape I wanted onto the fabric and copied it over to the rest so they would match.  They look a little different than traditional stockings because of the curled toe.  We like the whimsy of the finished product.

 I also wrapped yarn around a wooden letter and attached it to the stocking by tying it to the loop used to hang it.  The J was a little difficult to wrap, I had to undo the first attempt, but got it on the second!











We really enjoyed our mantle decorations this Christmas.  I'm looking forward to decorating it again... Christmas will be here again in no time!

Message Board

In my quest to make our house look like we live here I've been doing several projects.  This is one I just finished.  I used another frame from the estate auction I went to a little over a year ago (see here, here, here, and here).  I really got a lot of awesome junk from there!  Anyway, I took out the glass, then cleaned it and the frame.

Then I covered the cardboard backing with fabric and put it all back together. 

I think it turned out pretty well.  It will be a great place for Justin and I to leave sweet messages and reminders for each other.  Here it is in its new home:

I'm still working on a cute way to attach the marker... more to come on that.  The cross is from this post. 

Hoot Hoot

I made this owl for a new friend:

 

One of my friends had a baby recently and since she and I were in Swannanoa together at MC, I thought it was fitting to make her little girl an owl.  This was my first attempt and I didn't use a pattern, but I think it turned out pretty well.  Here's a view of the back:

Here's the owl again, a little more close up:

Pillow Project

When planning a wedding some things just don't work out like you plan.  This was the case with the pew markers for us.  I had a fun idea to make fabric flower balls and hang several from each pew.  The first few flower balls turned out pretty cute, but they took FOREVER.  So, I had to go for plan B.  The pew markers still had some fabric flowers on them and turned out well.  However, before we realized plan A wasn't going to happen my family spent countless hours cutting out little green and white fabric circles.  My mom did nothing but cut circles for at least two days straight.  Yes, she's that awesome.

So, I've been wanting to put those circles to good use for a while now.  I've also wanted to make something with the initial of my new last name.  That is where the idea for this pillow cover came from.  I really like the way it turned out.  I don't have any process shots of this project, but here are several of the finished product:

Envelope Back

Q close up

I used an 20" square pillow form I got from our Ikea trip.  I made the pillow cover 18" square.  It's good to get a pillow form that's just a little bigger than your pillow cover so that your finished pillow is nice and fluffy.  I really like the way mine fits.

Here it is in it's new home:

 

I'm linking to:

Almost Summertime

The recent beautiful weather has made me want to spruce up our outdoor space.  I really feel the need for something "green" on the front porch... the only problem is I have a black thumb.  You'd think as much as I love the color green I'd have a green thumb, but I don't.  I inherited this unfortunate killing of plants from my mother.  Justin, however, doesn't seem to kill things as quickly as I do, so there is hope for our house.  I think I just have paid attention to my plants very well before, so I'm going to give this a try.

I really like the way succulents look and I think they are pretty easy to maintain, so they're first on my list to find.  I think I'd like a few inside as well.  Here are a few inspiration pictures I've found:

Aren't these colors fun?  (picture from Apartment Therapy)

Picture from Florico Foliage

I think these look fun, too.  (picture from Florabundance)

I'll post what we put together as we do it.  I think I could really like to garden.  When I was little I would help my dad in his garden and I used to make mud pies, I generally liked playing in the dirt.  I think there's hope for our yard... only time will tell!

Do you have any suggestions/tips for me?

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...

The purchase of our home did not include a mirror in the half bath.  We went for a while without one because I wanted to find an inexpensive one I could make interesting and fun.  So, I went several times to the consignment shop, Repeat Street.  We got our awesome yellow table in this post from this shop.  I love just looking around there.  Anyway, I found this mirror:

Before

I like this simplicity of it and was excited to spruce it up a bit.

Before Detail Shot

I started by taping off the mirror so just the frame showed.

Next, I sprayed the frame with a spray paint primer:

I did two coats of primer letting it dry between each coat.  Then I did several coats of a bright green spray paint.  I had a little bit of an issue with what I was thinking would be my last coat.  I waited a day in between the first 2 and my last 2 coats of green paint.  The last coat started bubbling up in a few places.  So, I wiped it off and sanded it down in those areas and re-sprayed.  I think it turned out ok.  I'm not sure that I'm done with it, but we needed to get it up because we were having people over and as Justin said, "People expect to have a mirror in the bathroom."  So, here is the mirror as it is now hanging in our half bathroom:

I think it will look better when I finish decorating the space, but I do like that it is an unexpected pop of color... green!  (Ok, maybe that color isn't unexpected in my house... oh well, I still love it!)


I'm linking to:

A Bar Stool Is Here!

Remember this post?  Well... the bar stools were delivered Tuesday!
Look how well the green color matches the other green things in my kitchen:

It's like they were made for me!  Freddie came over after work to work on our blog and was there when I opened the boxes and laughed at me running around the kitchen taking pictures of the stool top with everything.  It was fun.

Then I tried to start putting it together... fail.  This is how far I got:

Can you see how far the screws are still sticking out?  Now, I don't consider myself a weakling... I'm actually pretty strong for a girl.  (I'm not as strong as Sherry at Young House Love...this post made me laugh.)  But, I just couldn't get the screws in all the way!  I think if I'd kept trying for several more hours I would've eventually gotten it, but it was taking forever, and I needed to finish cooking supper, and I wasn't enjoying the process, so I just let my husband take over when he got home.  That's what husbands are for anyway, right?  I come up with the fun ideas, and he does the manual labor... sounds good to me!

When I gave up, AnnaBelle decided to see what she could do, but she stepped on the bag the screws came in and the tape stuck to her.  Then she gave up too.

She didn't appreciate me taking pictures of her before I took it off, but she wasn't hurting and I thought she was cute. :)

After Justin got home and we ate supper he had the stool together in no time... the good stool that is...
It's not all fun and games, one of them was damaged... sad day.  The Foundary handled it very well though.  They were very prompt in their response and we are getting a new one and we'll get a full refund when they receive the bad one back in their warehouse.  So, that's the reason for the title of this post being "A Bar Stool Is Here" and not "The Bar Stools Are Here."  So, a little disappointment, but still a very exciting night.

Here's the final product:

Side View

Back View

Front View

 I'm excited to get the other one in and take pictures of the completed space... post on that to come!
Thanks for reading!  Let me know what you think!

Foodie Freddies

My friend Heather and I have started a new blog to help each other brave the world of cooking for two.  See it here.  My first post is about this dish:

GREEN Chicken Curry

 The dish turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.  It was the first meal we ate at our table, in our new house, eating on our new dishes.  It was really fun.  You can find the link to the recipe on the new blog here.

Beautiful Bar Stools (yes, they're green)

The Foundary is a website that emails you deals on products that only last for a certain amount of time.  I'm usually a little skeptical about this type of site, but I figured it didn't hurt to sign up since it is free.  We are still looking for several pieces to complete our home so I thought maybe I'd find a good deal... and I did!  I found some awesome GREEN bar stools.  They are mod looking have a green cushion and chrome base.  I couldn't wait for them to come in to post about it, so I don't have any pictures, but I promise to post some as soon as they come in.

The site doesn't only have furniture, it has lots of different products.  I found a diaper bag I really liked (I was going to get for a friend, not for me... don't get excited), but I didn't act fast enough and it sold out.  You can sign-up for this site here.  It's free to join and they really do have pretty good deals on some interesting products.  I recommend you give The Foundary a try!  Let me know if you find anything great!

If I were building my dream house...

...I'd want my bathroom to look like this.

http://www.hgtv.com/designers-portfolio/room/contemporary/bathrooms/3629/index.html



Look at all that green happiness...


How could you not be excited to get ready in this room everyday?

I love green.

Here we go... post number one.  Honestly, I'm not really sure how to get started so I'm just going to jump in.  I'm getting married on 1.1.11!  My finance' and I both currently live in apartments that the other can't move into so we are also working on a new place to live.  Therefore, wedding plans and house plans consume most of my thoughts... it's REALLY fun and I love it!

This is just kinda an introductory/where I'm coming from post, but below is a link to a cool design element I found recently.  I love a pop of color... especially green.  I probably won't do the first pic in my house, (because the elements I already have to work with wouldn't coordinate well) but I love the simplicity of the tone on tone whites with the bright door.  There room feels serene and fresh, awesome. 

The next few pictures are pretty cool, too. I like the second one because I think ceilings get forgotten a lot.  You don't have to paint it bright green, but let's at least put some thought into it.  If plain white works best in your space great, let's jut make sure it does just that... works in the space.  Putting some thought into the ceiling can really add some unexpected and nice depth to a space. (I should do some research on ceilings... future ceiling post coming.)

While I'm not crazy about the third picture, I LOVE the fourth one!  I love the exposed brick and the dark beams.  Worn elements make me happy.  I think I'd do a few less colors and pop some chrome accessories in the space.  The space looks lived in and inviting yet high style, I love it.


Well here's the link:

http://www.modhomeec.com/2010/08/23/a-dollup-of-green/

What do you think?  I hope you enjoy!